The next morning Key woke up with a sharp pain running down his backside. He let out an anguished groan before turning over to see Jonghyun still sleeping. Annoyed with the other he pushed him to try and wake him but Jonghyun only turned away from Key’s pestering attempts. Now completely irritated Key kicked Jonghyun on the floor causing another rush of sharp pain to course through him but at least the other was up now.

            “Oww… Key can’t you wake me up in a gentler way?” Jonghyun said as he stood up and rubbed his arm that he landed on.

            “Don’t even start complaining. I am in so much pain right now because of you I should…” Key cut himself off and let out a soft sigh to calm down before looking at the clock. It was almost seven and Changjo needed to be getting ready for school. “Jonghyun go wake Changjo up and tell him to have cereal for breakfast.”

            “And why can’t you…”

            “Jonghyun…” Key said in a stern voice cutting him off. Jonghyun realized that Key was seriously in a bad mood this morning. Maybe he was a little rough last night but Key didn’t oppose to anything. Instead he was begging him. Jonghyun started to think that maybe three rounds was too much for Key now.

            “I’ll contain myself to only two from now on.” He said under his breath as he walked out to go and wake Changjo. What he found, however, was an empty bedroom. “Oh this isn’t good. I should get Key some pain killers before telling him that Changjo isn’t here.” Jonghyun said as he went into the kitchen to retrieve the pills and a cup of water. Hmm…this seems sort of familiar. He thought as he walked into their bedroom with the pills for Key.

            “Is Changjo awake?” Key asked as he retrieved the items from Jonghyun.

            “Changjo isn’t here.” Jonghyun said and waited for Key to freak out. All Key did, however, was take a deep breath, swallow his pills, and put the cup down before speaking.

            “What do you mean he isn’t here? Did he leave a note?” Jonghyun shook his head. “Well he’s probably at Ricky’s. I’ll just call him.” Key said picking up his phone. Jonghyun was completely amazed at how calm Key was. He expected him to curse and call for a man hunt for their son. It didn’t last long as he saw that Key was having trouble getting in contact with their son and his anger was slowly rising. After the fourth attempt Key lost it.

            “Why the hell isn’t he picking up his phone and on top of that Ricky’s phone is off!! I swear if Changjo did something stupid again he is never going to see the light of day again because he will be dead!” Key exclaimed as he tried to call again. This caused Jonghyun to let out a relieved sigh now that Key was back to ‘normal’ because his previous attitude was starting to worry him.

            Soon it seemed that Key was able to get in contact with their son and that’s when the yelling began, or well continued.

            “Yah! Changjo where are you?! Just when we decide to trust you again you go and run off! I swear if you don’t tell me where you are right now I’m going to find you and kill you!” Key screamed and he heard Changjo say something in the middle of his lecturing but he couldn’t make it out. “You’re where?!” He asked again to only have Changjo answer that he was at Ricky’s.

            “If you’re really at his house then put him on the phone.” Key said not trusting his son one bit. Soon he heard Ricky’s voice and accepted the fact that he was actually over there. He had Ricky return to phone to Changjo and told Changjo to make sure he got to school on time before hanging up.

            “So our son is at Ricky’s house?”

            “Yea. This is why we don’t freak out and do things rationally.” Jonghyun laughed at Key’s statement. “What? What did I say that was so funny?!” Key asked as Jonghyun continued to laugh.

            “You?! Being rational?! You’re the last person in this world to do things rationally!” Jonghyun said as his laughter started to die down a bit.

            “Yah! I am very rational and don’t you have to be at work or something?”

            “I could be saying the same thing to you.”

            “I’m going in late.”

            “Hmm… Whatever. Don’t overexert yourself. I don’t want you in too much pain.”

            “Too bad you weren’t thinking that last night.” Key mumbled under his breath.

            “What?”

            “Nothing. I’ll see you when you get home honey!” He said as he placed a large smile on his face. Jonghyun chuckled at Key’s face before going to get ready for work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Jonghyun was in his office trying to write a new song for EXO since they were supposed to have a comeback soon. As he was racking his brain there was a knock on his door and before he could even tell the person to come in they entered. Jonghyun quickly stood up and bowed when he saw that it was Oh Yejun the head songwriter for SM.

            “Oh Yejun-nim. What are you doing here sir?”

            “I’m just checking up on you to see how that new song is coming along.” He said as he motioned for Jonghyun to sit back down.

            “I was just working on it. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the week.” Jonghyun said with a smile on his face to reassure his boss. Unfortunately he let out a sigh and it didn’t sound like a positive sigh.

            “Jonghyun-goon you’ve been working very hard and I can see that but…”

            “But?”

            “But the last couple of songs you have written haven’t been hits. Some of them were even complete flops and that’s not good in this business. We need people that can write music that will sell.”

            “W-What are you saying?”

            “I’m saying that you need to write a hit song or you will be demoted to an assistant lyricist.”

            “So you’re saying that I only have one shot or I will be demoted?”

            “Of course not. I’m not that cruel. You’ll be writing a mini album for Shin Bomi.”

            “Excuse me but who?”

            “Shin Bomi. She is going to be debuting soon as a solo artist. If her mini album can make it onto the top ten charts or she wins first place on a music show for her promoted single then, and only then will you be able to keep your current job. If not, well then I will have no choice but to demote you.”

            Jonghyun couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew that he hadn’t written any award winning songs in a while but he never thought that his job would be in jeopardy because of it. “What about the new EXO song I’m working on?”

            “Don’t worry about that. I’m transferring the responsibility of that over to someone else. All you need to be concerned with is Bomi-ssi’s mini album. You should meet her so you can learn her personality and write music that will match her well. She also seemed really excited when I told her you would be writing her mini album. Seems like she’s a big fan.” Yejun said as he smiled and left Jonghyun’s office. Once the door was closed Jonghyun let out a long, loud scream, glad that his office was soundproof.

            “How can he still smile at me right after telling me he might demote me?! AH!! What am I going to do?!” Jonghyun yelled out trying to get rid of his frustrations before laying his head on his desk to gather his thoughts.

            “I should meet with Bomi-ssi and her manager first to see exactly how much time I have to come up with something.” Jonghyun got up from his desk to go on a search for Shin Bomi with a new found determination. He wasn’t going to let himself get demoted, he had worked too hard to get where he was and we wasn’t planning on giving it up anytime soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            While Jonghyun was trying to save his job there was a very confused young man sitting at his desk dazed out and still fighting off a hangover. Changjo had been woken up that morning by Ricky kicking him of the bed and even scolding him. Then he got a phone call from his father and that resulted in more scolding; these things combined only helped to intensify his headache. Plus Changjo couldn’t even remember what he did last night or how he ended up at Ricky’s. All he remembered was being with Yongguk and drinking some really nasty stuff.

            Changjo was brought out of his thoughts by the bell ringing signaling that it was time for lunch. Zelo walked with him to the cafeteria but Changjo didn’t realize he was besides him until the taller boy spoke.

            “Changjo-ah what’s bothering you?”

            “Oh, Zelo. When did you get here?”

            “I’ve been walking next to you this whole time.”

            “Oh really. I didn’t notice.”

            “I can see that. So what has you so spaced out?”

            “It’s nothing really. I was just thinking about some things.” He said as they arrived to the cafeteria. After they got their food Changjo looked toward his group of friends and noticed that Ricky wasn’t sitting there.

            “Where is Ricky?” He mumbled to himself as he let his eyes roam the cafeteria in search of his friend.

            “What are you doing now Changjo? Let’s go and sit. I’m hungry and I want to eat.” Zelo said. Changjo’s eyes landed on his friends but Zelo was going the opposite way toward his group of friends and Changjo followed. When they arrived at the table Yongguk was already there, wearing sunglasses and resting his head on the table. Changjo went and sat next to Yongguk before laying his head on the table and staring at his boyfriend. He figured his eyes were closed since he didn’t say anything so he poked him slightly.

            “Ugh…What?” Yongguk asked in an annoyed tone.

            “Do you not feel good either?” Changjo asked concerned evident in his voice.

            “Changjo-ah?” Yongguk lifted his glasses slightly to look his boyfriend in the eyes. He was taken aback by the bright smile on the younger’s face and he couldn’t help but smile back before leaning in to plant a kiss on his lips. “Hey, how are you feeling?” He asked in a sweet tone.

            “Hmm… I was feeling like earlier but I’m feeling a little better now. And you?”

            “Like but I’m feeling a little better now that you’re by my side.” As he said that Changjo lifted his head off the table and turned his head away from Yongguk. Yongguk sat up and brought Changjo’s gaze back to him.

            “Look at me Changjo.” He said as he held the younger’s chin in between his forefinger and thumb. He had placed his glasses back on since the light made his headache worse but he still wanted Changjo’s attention on him. He noticed that Changjo’s cheeks were dusted a light shade of pink and realized that he was probably just being shy. “Are you just being shy because of what I said?”

             Changjo nodded his head and all Yongguk could do was laugh before placing another kiss on the boy’s lips. He loved seeing Changjo’s shy face. Too bad someone came to ruin their little moment.

            “Eww. Can you two get a room or something? People are trying to eat here.” Himchan said as he sat down across from the couple and motioned for Ricky to sit down next to him.

            “Shut up Himchan and who is this?” Yongguk asked as he motioned to Ricky. Ricky put his head down to avoid everyone’s scrutinizing glares, mainly Yongguk’s though. Even though he was wearing sunglasses, Ricky could still feel his gaze.   

            “Ricky…” Changjo said under his breath and Yongguk turned his attention to his boyfriend.

            “Do you know him?”

            “Yea, we’re best friends.”

            “We were best friends.” Ricky then chimed in and Changjo looked at him with wide and confused eyes. It got silent and there was an awkward air hanging around everyone’s heads.

            “Well, everyone this is Yoo Changhyun but he goes by Ricky.”

            “Great. What is he doing here?” Yongguk interrupted.

            “If you could shut the up for two seconds I could finish speaking.”

            “Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

            “Well you would too if you have to go out in the middle of the night and pick up your drunken best friend from some club. Anyway Ricky here and I are…well we’re friends.”

            “Just friends?” Yongguk said and then looked under the table and saw that their hands were interlaced. “Oh I see. He’s your new buddy! Well good job, at least this one is cute.”

            “BANG YONGGUK!!” Himchan then screamed out slamming his hands on the table, startling everyone. “We are not buddies! We are friends that are talking.”

            “Talking? What the hell are you talking about Himchan? Are you A) Dating him? B) ing him? Or C) All of the above”

            “D) None of the above. We’re just talking and not labeling our relationship.”

            Yongguk let out a scoff. “Whatever. Listen kid; don’t let this bad man take advantage of you. If he says that he has a one-eyed snake he wants to show you don’t let him.”

            “Yongguk!” Himchan exclaimed again before simply banging his head against the table and mumbling a “Why do I even associate myself with you?”

            “Thanks for the advice but I can take care of myself just fine. How about you just worry about yourself and Changjo? I suggest not getting him drunk again because if his parents find out both you and he will be killed.”

            “Your advice has been duly noted.” Yongguk said with a small smirk before turning back to his boyfriend who for most of the conversation remained silent. “Changjo, you’ve been silent for a while now.”

            “Yea. Umm…Ricky are you mad at me?”

            “No.” Ricky said without even looking at Changjo.

            “Oh. That’s good. I thought I heard you say earlier that we ‘were’ best friends. I guess I just heard wrong.” Changjo said as he let out a forced laugh.

            “No you heard correctly. I mean you seem so preoccupied with your boyfriend; I just don’t want to get in the way of that. Plus you don’t really seem to have time to hang out with me since you never answer any of my calls and couldn’t make it to my theater tryout, even though you promised to come.”

            “Wait; was that yesterday?” Changjo asked and realizing he stood up his friend. That must have been why he called him so many times. “I’m so sorry Ricky! I didn’t mean to I swear. You should have reminded me though.”

            “I tried but he came and dragged you off away somewhere.”

            “Listen kid; you need to stop being such a baby. I mean are you seriously acting this way because of some stupid broken promise? Jeez, grow a pair and man up.”

            “Yongguk…” Changjo reached for his hand gently to try and get him to ease up on Ricky.

            “What? I hate whiny people and that’s all he’s doing.”

            “But…”

            “No you’re right and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m manning up right now. I don’t need to follow Changjo around like a puppy anymore. So I’m going to live my life and you can live yours.” After saying that Ricky got up from the table leaving with Himchan following. Leaving his confused friend behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Himchan followed Ricky in silence until the younger boy stopped walking. They were in the courtyard and most people had already gone back inside since there were only about five minutes left to the lunch period. Himchan was about to speak when he noticed Ricky’s frame start to shake.

            “Ricky?” He said gently as he placed a hand on his shoulder turning him around. What he saw shocked him. The younger boy was crying and crying so hard that it caused his tiny frame to shake. All he could think to do was pull him into a tight hug.

            “Hyung it hurts…” Ricky mumbled out into his chest and Himchan thought he was hugging him too hard. So he pulled away and said sorry.

            “No hyung, my heart. My heart, it hurts. Why does he have to be so stupid? Why can’t he see that I love him so much?  All he cares about is dancing and now Yongguk. Why am I not good enough for him?! He couldn’t even come to my tryout because he was with him! Am I that inadequate as a friend? As a man? That he can’t see me as anything but his ing shadow!” Ricky let it all out as he clung onto Himchan. He wasn’t one to curse but at the moment he was in so much pain that he couldn’t help it.

            Himchan held onto Ricky and let him cry his heart out. He had no clue that he liked the other boy and it hurt him to see Ricky so broken down even though he had only known him for less than a month. Himchan was starting to really dislike Changjo for making the angel in his arms cry like this. When he felt Ricky calm down a little, he pulled away and placed his hands on either side of the boys face.

            “Ricky, I know I’m not Changjo but…but can you give me a chance to love you?” Himchan asked as he stared into Ricky’s deep dark brown eyes. Ricky lowered his eyes from Himchan’s strong gaze as the tears slowly started to stop. He didn’t know how to respond to Himchan’s confession. He understood that his hyung liked him, they even kissed last night but, he wasn’t sure if he could forget about Changjo that easily.

            “Ricky please,” Himchan said as he bent down to see Ricky’s face, “I will treat you right and give you all the love that you deserve. So can you at least try to be with me?”

            Ricky thought about and realized if he was with Himchan that the other will probably help to keep his mind off of Changjo. Plus Himchan was seriously a nice guy. So he nodded and mumbled out a small ‘ok’ not completely trusting his voice not to shake. Himchan stood up with a smile on his face while still holding onto Ricky’s face before slowly lowering his head down so that he could place a kiss on the others lips.

            Ricky let Himchan kiss him and soon tried to start kissing him back. He was going to give up his crush on Changjo if it was the last thing he did and Himchan seemed like the best guy for him to be with. So he was going to put his all into this relationship to keep both him and Himchan happy. He thought this as he wrapped his tiny arms around Himchan’s neck as they continued to kiss, everything else in the world forgotten; the ending lunch period, class starting without them there, and most importantly Changjo. 

Yes guys I'm not dead and this is an update! I'm sorry for not updating in so long but I had finals and everything but now school is over and I'm on break for a month! All the time to write. So I will be updating more often and I might even finish this story. Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter. I just mapped out what I'm going to do with this story and I'm so excited so you guys should be too! I felt like this was lacking a lot of Jongkey so I plan on adding a lot more. So Jongkey fans look forward to it! Ok let's move on.

~Side Talk~

Me: Welcome to another segment of Side Talk. I have with me today Key, Changjo, and Ricky. Wait. Key where is Jonghyun?

Key: At work. He doesn't have time to come on this stupid show and talk to you.

Me: Oh but you do? I can see who's the bread winner in your family.

Key: Yah! I make plenty of money! I just had the day off today and wasn't going to let these two boys come here alone. Who knows what you might have done to them.

Me: Eww Key. What kind of person do you think I am? I would never go after kids! They're like my daughter's age. That would just be strange. 

Key: You say that now but I know once I turn my back you'll be all over them. Especially my Changjo. He's too cute for his own good. *Key pinches Changjo's cheeks*

Changjo: Appa! Stop that hurts.

Key: Shut up and accept my love you little rotten brat. 

Me: Ok let's move onto the viewer question. *Pulls out question cue card and dusts it off* Wow this is old. They might have even forgotten that they asked a question.

Key: Well if you actually did your job regularly then this wouldn't be a problem.

Me: For your information this is a side job. I do this for fun!  *Smiles brightly*

Key: Why would you want to do a job like this for fun?

Me: Because I get to torture you! Duh! 

Key: You're a sadist.

Me: Only with you. Now our questions come from Bethzz. The first one is for Changjo and they ask "Why are you leaving Ricky alone all the time? He's really upset that you didn't come to his audition!"

Key: You're leaving him alone? What does that person mean by that? 

Changjo: I'm not doing it on purpose. I just get busy and sometimes forget to check my phone.

Ricky: *Under breath* You're not too busy to answer Yongguk's calls though.

Changjo: Yongguk has nothing to do with it. I've just been busy! Jeez!

Key: Still why did you break your promise?! That's not like you. I didn't raise you to be that type of person.

Changjo: I just forgot! So can we move on now?

Me: Hmm...ok the next one is for Key and they ask "Who do you prefer as a boyfriend to Changjo: Ricky or  Yongguk?"

Changjo: What kind of question is that? I've never dated Ricky.

Me: This is why this isn't a question for you. Now Key.

Key: I rather him be with Ricky because I know Ricky and he's a good kid. While this Yongguk person seems like he's going to be a horrible influence on my son.

Changjo: No he won't! He is really nice and sweet.

Ricky: Plus I already have a boyfriend. So I can't be with him anyway.

Key: What? Ricky-ah you're dating someone?

Ricky: *Nods head*

Key: When did this happen?! Why don't I know about this?!

Changjo: You're not his appa that's why!

Key: I'm practically his appa! I need to meet this boy Ricky. I don't want you with someone bad likie Changjo is.

Changjo: Appa!! I told you he isn't bad!!

Me: Ok go fight at home! I still have a couple of questions. Oh this is for Yongguk-ah. Hmm... Changjo do you think you can get him on the phone?

Changjo: I don't know. I might not want to call him depending on what the question is. So why don't you run it by me first and then I will decide if I'll call him or not.

Me: Hmm... how about no. *Wrestles the phone out of Changjo's pocket* Ok now where is his number...

Changjo: Yah! You can't do that!!

Me: Are you speaking informally to me?! Don't make me delete all of your contacts!

Changjo: You wouldn't...

Me: Oh honey you don't know me well yet. Just ask you appa and he'll tell you.

Changjo: Would she really..?

Key: Yea. She even kidnapped me and tied me to a chair once when I refused to come. So just sit back and let her call him.

Me: Found it! *Rings a couple of times and he picks up*

Yongguk: Yoboseyo

Me: Yoboseyo Yongguk-ah. 

Yongguk: Who is this?

Me: You don't have to worry about that right now. I have Changjo here right now and you're now on a talk show. There was a question sent in for you by one of  the viewers. Would you mind answering?

Yongguk: Depends on the question.

Me: I suggest you answer for your own good.

Yongguk: What? 

Me: Nothing. Anyway the question is: "Why have you taken such a liking to Changjo even though he's four years your junior?"

Yongguk: That's a dumb question. What does age have to do with anything? It's not like he's a kid. He is old enough to make proper decisions and I'm with him because I want to be with him. Is that all.

Me: I guess. 

Yongguk: Whatever. *Clicks* 

Me: Wow such a rude little brat!

Key: Told you he's a bad guy.

Changjo: He is not! She just pissed him off.

Key: Well she pisses everyone off.

Me: I'll have you know that plenty of people love me. 

Key: Sure 

Me: You know what Key, I'm too tired to even respond to you anymore. So this is the end of our segment! Send in your questions for our next segment and if it's good enough it will be included! 

Changjo: Do we have to come again appa?

Me: Yes! And don't think about not showing up without a proper excuse or I will just come and get you personally. Anyway see you all next time!

Hope you've all enjoyed this update!

~Lolo